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Today's News

David and Hardie Rogers of Havana, along with Dennis and Sue Mihalek of Columbia, Tenn., are pleased to announce the engagement and forthcoming marriage of their children, Claire Marie Rogers and Chad Christopher Mihalek.

The bride-elect is a graduate of Robert F. Munroe Day School, Tallahassee Community College and Florida State University. She is employed as an executive assistant at G. David Robers & Associates. Her grandparent is Lindell White of Orange Park.

Several people who oppose the proposed biomass plant in Gretna appeared before the Gadsden County Board of Commissioners Jan. 5.

Susan Bowden, who lives on Old Federal Road, south of Quincy, opposes the proposed facility and said she and her family moved here 9 years ago after they searched for a place to live that was safe, peaceful and quiet. Bowden said she was astonished to hear Gretna has announced a biomass plant coming as if it's a "done deal."

County Commissioner Sherrie Taylor said she wanted to "bring some clarity" to a Florida Association of Counties memo that stated she had not completed the necessary classes to graduate as a certified county commissioner in 2010.

"I have gone to workshops in Daytona, Gainesville and Orlando and had no problems and no classes taken away. I have more hours than needed but no one asked me what happened," she said.

The city of Quincy, in partnership with the Gadsden County Chapter of the National Hook-Up of Black Women, will sponsor the annual Martin Luther King Jr. Unity Breakfast Jan. 18. The event will be held at the Joe Ferolito Recreation Center on Graves Street in Quincy.

The free breakfast, which is open to the community, begins at 8 a.m. The speaker will be Jack McLean, Quincy city manager. Musical performances include the Unity School of the Performing Arts and the New Bethel AME Church Praise dancers.

Trudging through 4 or more feet of snow in less than 20-degree weather and/or sweating profusely in temperatures in excess of 100 degrees were just part of the many experiences that this newspaper boy and his helpers, two younger brothers and a sister, underwent in our quest to get our newspapers delivered.

Do you recall the outrage of the proposed coal plant for Taylor County several years ago? Much of the medical community and many Tallahasseans were outraged about the deadly health impacts and the global warming that would have resulted from its construction.

The plant was fortunately not constructed, but now Leon County residents face another health risk from the biomass plants proposed for nearby Gretna and other counties in North Florida and South Georgia.

I have many unanswered questions about the biomass incinerator (in the planning stages for the Gretna Industrial Park). Why has there been no public discussion of the hazards of such a facility in our county and city commission meetings? Why were the neighbors of the plant not notified? Why haven't they told us about the air pollution (smog, soot and acid rain) it will cause? Hadn’t you heard that burning biomass is dirtier than burning coal? Why haven’t they told us about the associated medical problems like heart disease, cancer, asthma a